Recommendations based on Istanbul Passageby Joseph Kanon

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. Night Soldiers

    by Alan Furst
    Espionage thriller set in 1930's Europe, as the world slowly descends into war.

    Bulgaria, 1934. A young man is murdered by the local fascists. His brother, Khristo Stoianev, is recruited into the NKVD, the Soviet secret intelligence service, and sent to Spain to serve in its ... (Goodreads)

  2. Station Eleven

    by Emily St. John Mandel
    Post-apocalyptic exploration of a world drastically changed after a pandemic.

    An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse,, Station Eleven, tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of ... (Barnes & Noble)

  3. Songs of Willow Frost

    by Jamie Ford
    A young Chinese-American boy searches for his mother in Depression-era Seattle. A tale of love, loss, and hope.

    Twelve-year-old William Eng, a Chinese-American boy, has lived at Seattle’s Sacred Heart Orphanage ever since his mother’s listless body was carried away from their small apartment five years ago. On ... (Goodreads)

  4. The Children Act

    by Ian McEwan
    A family court judge must make a difficult decision between the law and her conscience.

    Fiona Maye is a respected High Court Judge specialising in Family Law and living in Gray's Inn Square. While reviewing a case, she is approached by her husband, Jack, who tells her that because of ... (Wikipedia)

  5. Blue Monday

    by Nicci French
    A psychological thriller about a London psychotherapist who becomes embroiled in a murder investigation.

    Monday, the lowest point of the week. A day of dark impulses. A day to snatch a child from the streets ... The abduction of five-year-old Matthew Farraday provokes a national outcry and a desperate ... (Goodreads)

  6. Beautiful Ruins

    by Jess Walter
    A romantic story of fate, secrets, and destiny, spanning from Italy in the 1960s to present day.

    "The best novel of the year." — Maureen Corrigan, NPR's Fresh Air A #1 New York Times bestseller, this “absolute masterpiece” (Richard Russo) is the story of an almost-love affair that begins on the ... (Goodreads)

  7. Bruno, Chief of Police

    by Martin Walker
    A small-town police chief investigates a murder that leads him to uncover dark secrets of the town's past.

    The first installment in a wonderful new series that follows the exploits of Benoît Courrèges, a policeman in a small French village where the rituals of the café still rule. Bruno – as he is ... (Goodreads)

  8. Palace of Treason

    by Jason Matthews
    CIA agent Dominika Egorova navigates the dangerous world of Russian espionage, risking everything to uncover a high-level mole.

    From the bestselling, Edgar Award–winning author of the “terrifically good” (The New York Times) Red Sparrow, a compulsively readable new novel about star-crossed Russian agent Dominika Egorova and ... (Goodreads)

  9. When Will There Be Good News?

    by Kate Atkinson
    A gripping mystery that intertwines the lives of three individuals, each with their own secrets and tragedies, leading to a shocking conclusion.

    In her crime novel When Will There Be Good News?, featuring recurring character Jackson Brodie, Kate Atkinson begins with several seemingly unrelated storylines that slowly resolve into a whole. The ... (Wikipedia)

  10. The Expats

    by Chris Pavone
    A mother's journey of espionage and suspense, unravelling a mysterious past.

    Kate Moore is a working mother, struggling to make ends meet, to raise children, to keep a spark in her marriage . . . and to maintain an increasingly unbearable life-defining secret. So when her ... (Goodreads)

  11. The Looking Glass War

    by John le Carré
    Cold War espionage, involving a small British intelligence unit in a deadly game of cat and mouse.

    During the early 1960s, the formerly renowned British military intelligence organisation known colloquially as "The Department" is floundering. Surviving on long past memories of its aerial ... (Wikipedia)

  12. The Big Sleep

    by Raymond Chandler
    Private eye investigates a complex case involving a wealthy family and blackmail.

    Private investigator Philip Marlowe is called to the home of the wealthy and elderly General Sternwood, in the month of October. He wants Marlowe to deal with an attempt by a bookseller named Arthur ... (Wikipedia)

  13. Red Sparrow

    by Jason Matthews
    A female Russian spy's mission to uncover a dangerous double agent and prevent a global disaster.

    In the grand spy-tale tradition of John le Carré comes this shocking thriller written with insider detail known only to a veteran CIA officer. In present-day Russia, ruled by blue-eyed, unblinking ... (Goodreads)

  14. Night School

    by Lee Child
    A former military policeman investigates a mysterious school where students have gone missing.

    In 1996, U.S. Army Major Jack Reacher is in Virginia to receive a medal for eliminating two militants in the Balkans when he receives orders from his superior officer and trusted friend, Leon Garber, ... (Wikipedia)

  15. The Surgeon's Mate

    by Patrick O'Brian
    A tale of adventure and romance set during the Napoleonic Wars.

    Sailing into Halifax, the victorious HMS Shannon contends with her losses in officers and crew, with particular concern for Captain Broke, who lies unconscious from head wounds. The American Captain ... (Wikipedia)

  16. Those Who Save Us

    by Jenna Blum
    A woman's journey of self-discovery, uncovering the secrets of her mother's past.

    For fifty years, Anna Schlemmer has refused to talk about her life in Germany during World War II. Her daughter, Trudy, was only three when she and her mother were liberated by an American soldier ... (Barnes & Noble)

  17. A Painted House

    by John Grisham
    A young boy's journey of growing up on an Arkansas cotton farm, learning life lessons along the way.

    "The hill people and the Mexicans arrived on the same day. It was a Wednesday, early in September 1952. The Cardinals were five games behind the Dodgers with three weeks to go, and the season looked ... (Goodreads)

  18. Our Man in Havana

    by Graham Greene
    A humorous tale of espionage in Cold War Cuba, as a vacuum cleaner salesman attempts to outwit the British Secret Service.

    Graham Greene's classic Cuban spy story, now with a new package and a new introduction, First published in 1959,, Our Man in Havana, is an espionage thriller, a penetrating character study, and a ... (Goodreads)

  19. Saturday

    by Ian McEwan
    A doctor's life is changed forever after witnessing a terrorist attack that takes place on a Saturday in London.

    Saturday is a masterful novel set within a single day in February 2003. Henry Perowne is a contented man — a successful neurosurgeon, happily married to a newspaper lawyer, and enjoying good ... (Goodreads)

  20. The Keeper of Lost Causes

    by Jussi Adler-Olsen
    A police detective investigates a mysterious disappearance, uncovering a sinister conspiracy.

    Carl Mørck is demoted to Department Q, the cold case unit, after a raid goes wrong. One case, a suspected suicide, piques his interest. His investigations suggest that the woman, a rising politician, ... (Wikipedia)

  21. No Country for Old Men

    by Cormac McCarthy
    A gripping tale of violence and pursuit in Texas' desolate landscape.

    The plot follows the interweaving paths of the three central characters (Llewelyn Moss, Anton Chigurh , and Ed Tom Bell) set in motion by events related to a drug deal gone bad near the ... (Wikipedia)

  22. Truly Madly Guilty

    by Liane Moriarty
    A group of friends face the consequences of a single summer night that changes their lives forever.

    Six responsible adults. Three cute kids. One small dog. It’s just a normal weekend. What could possibly go wrong? Sam and Clementine have a wonderful, albeit, busy life: they have two little girls, ... (Goodreads)

  23. The Interestings

    by Meg Wolitzer
    A group of friends meet at a summer camp and navigate their way through life's ups and downs, successes and failures.

    The Interestings explores the meaning of talent; the nature of envy; the roles of class, art, money, and power; and how all of it can shift and tilt precipitously over the course of a friendship and ... (Goodreads)

  24. The Power of the Dog

    by Don Winslow
    A powerful and intense story of two men and the Mexican-American drug war.

    From the bestselling author of Savages (now an Oliver Stone film). This novel of the drug trade takes you deep inside a world riddled with corruption, betrayal, and bloody revenge. Art Montana is an ... (Goodreads)

  25. Matterhorn

    by Karl Marlantes
    A Vietnam War novel about the journey of a Marine lieutenant and his platoon in the jungles of Vietnam.

    Featured in PBS's, The Vietnam War, series by Ken Burns & Lynn Novick. The, New York Times, bestselling, "powerhouse" (,TIME, Magazine) debut from Vietnam War veteran, Karl Marlantes. An incredible ... (Barnes & Noble)

  26. Smiley's People

    by John le Carré
    Retired spy Smiley is thrust back into the world of espionage to uncover a deadly conspiracy.

    John le Carre's classic novels deftly navigate readers through the intricate shadow worlds of international espionage with unsurpassed skill and knowledge and have earned him – and his hero, British ... (Goodreads)

  27. The Honourable Schoolboy

    by John le Carré
    A British agent's efforts to uncover a Soviet spy network in Southeast Asia.

    In 1974 George Smiley , the chief of the British secret intelligence service referred to as The Circus, is repairing the damage done to their operations by double agent Bill Haydon and looking for ... (Wikipedia)

  28. True Grit

    by Charles Portis
    A young girl's quest for justice, accompanied by an aging U.S. Marshall.

    The landmark anniversary edition of the #1, New York Times, bestselling classic novel, “an epic and a legend” (,The Washington Post,) Charles Portis has long been acclaimed as one of America’s most ... (Barnes & Noble)

  29. Waiting for the Barbarians

    by J.M. Coetzee
    A magistrate's moral crisis when faced with the abuse of power by the oppressive Empire.

    The story is narrated in the first person by the unnamed magistrate of a settlement that exists on the territorial frontier of "The Empire". The Magistrate's rather peaceful existence comes to an end ... (Wikipedia)

  30. All Quiet on the Western Front

    by Erich Maria Remarque
    A soldier's harrowing experience of the horrors of war.

    The book tells the story of Paul Bäumer, who belongs to a group of German soldiers on the Western Front during World War I . The patriotic speeches of his teacher Kantorek had led the whole class to ... (Wikipedia)